What is Lucite?

Updated on August 13, 2012

Lucite Shoes - A Case of style over comfort?

Lucite is a popular material that has been used for a wide variety of applications over the years, from shoes to aeroplane windows. It is a versatile and strong type of transparent thermoplastic which is both lightweight and resistant to shattering.

Lucite, whilst often compared to plastic is in fact of a much stronger and higher quality than plastic and has the clarity of glass, making it a wonderful material for replacing glass where strength is needed such as in the windows of aeroplanes for example.

What is Lucite Used for?

One of the companies most widely responsible for bringing Lucite to the wider world was theUScompany, Dupont, who used Lucite to produce a range of materials for fun rather than practicality, using it to make beads and costume jewellery. To this day, it is still a popular material for use in many fashion accessories because of its strength and appearance.

Lucite has also been widely used in the making of ‘trendy’ furniture with Lucite chairs and coffee tables becoming popular and also stylish during the sixties and seventies. Many homes now have affordable versions of the designer items that have been made in the past and a wide variety of Lucite tables, chairs and shelving are now stocked by some of the larger and more affordable furniture chain stores.

Lucite has even been used to make footwear with fashionable and transparent women’s shoes becoming all the rage at one time, although this was perhaps a case of style before comfort.

You may think that this is all well and good but you have never heard of it, but when you next pick up your transparent handled toothbrush and presume it is made from plastic, you are probably wrong; it may well be made from Lucite.

Given its past history of being used as a wind shield in spitfire aeroplanes during world war two, to being used in high end fashion design, it seems as though there is probably a long life for this strong, attractive and flexible material called Lucite.